“I had no choice but to seek accountability via the press. It was only after Wake Up Singapore reached out to the school that they finally acknowledged that the incidents were “racially insensitive” — after two emails and one phone conversation in which they repeatedly and categorically denied that those incidents were racist.”
– Mr Tan Jun Lin
Mr Tan Jun Lin a former staff member of Dimensions International College (“Dimensions”), decided to bring incidents of alleged racism that he personally witnessed during his time with the Dimensions to its management.
These incidents allegedly occurred during Mr Tan’s stint with Dimensions in 2022.
Incidents of Racism witnessed by Mr Tan
In particular, Mr Tan highlighted the following four incidents in a letter dated 16 January 2023 to the Chairman and CEO of Dimensions:-
- The word “anneh” being used by three staff members repeatedly to refer to Indian students and parents;
- One staff member mocking the Indian accent, making fun of how Indians supposedly pronounce the alphabets ‘S’ and ‘M’, and making jokes about ‘head-shaking’;
- Two staff members discussing the ‘birth rates’ of the Malay population and how they may ‘displace’ the majority race; and
- One staff member referring to an indian worker as a ‘bangala’ in his presence.
In his 2-page letter to the Chairman and CEO, Mr Tan said that the decision to speak up was ‘agonising’ as the same colleagues he named in his letter were ‘consistently kind’ to him.
He explained that he wrote directly to the Chairman and CEO instead of writing to the Human Resources department as Mr Tan was of the view that “every parent would expect that the Head of their children’s school is aware of this racism that occurs on a near-daily basis. I believe that you value racial diversity as much as I do as the diversity in your students itself shows.”
When no reply was forthcoming from Dimensions, Mr Tan sent a further email to Dimensions on 30 January 2023 to seek an update.
Dimensions’ Initial Response to the Allegations
By way of an email dated 2 February 2023, Dimensions essentially told Mr Tan that it concluded that “no issues of racism were involved“.
In a subsequent call between a Director of Dimensions on 7 February 2023, Dimensions, amongst other things “confirmed” with Mr Tan that the incidents he complained of were not racist, and said that “different people have different levels… it is the way that they talk“.
Mr Tan has since uploaded an audio recording of the call and correspondence with Dimensions on YouTube.
On February 8 2023, in a follow-up email to Mr Tan after the call the day prior, Dimensions said that it agreed with Mr Tan that he was being ‘overly sensitive’, and confirmed that those terms were used by the staff. Dimensions added that:-
“…our staff who said those terms are of the view that they are not racist remarks“.
Dimensions’ response to Wake Up Singapore
When Dimensions responded to Wake Up Singapore’s queries in March 2023 about the same incidents, it said that “It would not hesitate to take appropriate actions against staffs who act in racially insensitive ways“.
While Dimensions confirmed that the incidents did occur, it noted that they occurred in the “context of casual and private conversations“. It is unclear how or why the school categorised conversations that occurred in the professional setting of a workplace during office hours to that of a casual and private nature.
Dimensions informed Wake Up Singapore that a decision was made to counsel the staff members “about their ignorance” involved in the incidents. The said staff members were also warned them that disiplinary sanctions may follow if such incidents are repeated:-
“When we discussed with staff members involved in these incidents, we came to understand that they did not have the intention to offend Indian individuals as those remarks and actions were made in a private setting where the Indian individuals they were talking about were not present. However, we recognise that such behaviour is unacceptable regardless of setting and have counselled them not to do it again as the school does not condone racially insensitive words and actions.
In a review of the staff involved, we recognised that they have a demonstrated history of getting along well with their Indian colleagues and were thoughtful in looking after the welfare of students, many of whom are Indian, and, before these incidents, did not have a history of engaging in racially insensitive or racist behaviour. We are thus satisfied with our decision to counsel them about their ignorance in these isolated incidents and to warn them that disciplinary action will be taken if such incidents arise again.”
– A spokesperson for Dimensions International College Singapore
The educational institution expressed regret for using the word “over sensitive” as it may have sent the wrong signal that the school was being “dismissive” about the case. An email address was also set up, according to Dimensions, for all staff to feedback on issues of racism experienced at the workplace.
Dimensions’ response to Wake Up Singapore ended with an expression of gratitude to Mr Tan for “highlighting these issues“.
The threat of legal action against Mr Tan
Following Dimensions’ response to Wake Up Singapore, Mr Tan reached out to Dimensions directly to clarify some apparent inconsistencies in their response to him and their response to the publication.
Namely, Mr Tan asked Dimensions:-
- Why the incidents were labelled as “casual and private conversations” when they took place in the office?
- Why did Dimensions initally say that there were “no issues of racism” (in its email of 2 February 2023) but later state that the words used were “racially insensitive” and “unacceptable”?
- The relevance of malice in establishing whether an act is racist; and
- How the school plans to ensure that such incidents would not happen again if it ‘cannot decide what constitutes racism’?
In it’s response to Mr Tan on 3 March 2023, Dimensions reiterated its position taken in the email to Wake Up Singapore of 1 March 2023, and put Mr Tan on notice that his actions of, inter alia, disclosing the identities of staff members to Wake Up Singapore constitute harassment.
In no uncertain terms, Mr Tan told by Dimensions that:-
We are prepared to take legal action in respect of the above should you continue in your actions to cause distress to our employees and to tarnish the reputation of Dimensions.
In a call with Mr Tan that same day, another director from Dimensions informed him that he had breached the terms of his contract.
It is worth noting that this threat of legal action came no less than 2 days after Dimensions, in its email to Wake Up Singapore, thanked Mr Tan “for highlighting these issues to us as we seek to continue to promote a safe and harmonious work and learning place for people of all races in our school.”
Mr Tan remains undeterred by the threat of legal action
In response to Wake Up Singapore’s questions on the threat of legal action against Mr Tan, Dimensions said that it “merely informed Jun Lin that we are prepared to take such legal steps as to protect our staff from undue distress or harassment and to prevent any disparagement of our institution, if necessary.”
Mr Tan told Wake Up Singapore that a significant proportion of the students in Dimensions are from India, and he felt “repulsed and disturbed by the way the school handled [his] allegations“.
He explained that he reached out to Wake Up Singapore as he felt he had no “other recourse available”:-
I first sent a letter to the CEO & Chairman of Dimensions, laying out my account of the racism that I witnessed.
When I reached out to the school again, two staff members insisted that “no issues of racism were involved” and that what I described is “not racist”.
With no other recourse available to me since I have already reached out to the highest levels of management, I had no choice but to seek accountability via the press.
It was only after Wake Up Singapore reached out to the school that they finally acknowledged that the incidents were “racially insensitive” — after two emails and one phone conversation in which they repeatedly and categorically denied that those incidents were racist.
“If doing the right thing means getting sued, then so be it. I will not be intimidated into silence,” said Mr Tan.
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